Beyond Meat, famous for making faux meat from plants, will be available at fast food chain BurgerFi from July 03. (IE)Ahead of Independence Day, the California- based startup Beyond Meat, famous for making faux meat from plants, will be available at fast food chain BurgerFi from July 03. In a report by The New York Times, the startup company will launch in eight locations of BurgerFi comprising of Malibu, New York City, Poughkeepsie, NY; Philadelphia; Coral Springs, Florida; Coral Gables, Florida; and two stores in Delray Beach, Florida. Beyond Meat has a long line of investors, including the co-founder of Microsoft Bill Gates. The company will be selling a burger made mostly from pea protein, yeast extract, beet juice and coconut oil, which will look and taste similar to the real burger. While speaking to Business Insider, Beyond Meat’s CEO, Ethan Brown said that the company has not reached its ultimate goal of making a plant-based burger that mirrors beef. He said,” We’re not there yet, but were getting closer and closer.”

Brown added that his company plans to come out with improved iterations of its veggie burger every year. Brown keeps telling the company’s scientist, who works in the startup’s headquarters in El Segundo, California, that this is a “lifetime employment project. Beyond Burger is already operating at certain Whole Foods across the country and at Veggie Grill, a small West Coast vegetarian chain that’s preparing for a nationwide expansion.The biggest competitor of Beyond Burger is Impossible Food which sells its plant-based burger in some upscale fast-casual chains, like Momofoku and Umami Burger.

This is not for the first time that BurgerFi, a chain that focuses on traditional fast food like beef patties, hot dogs and shakes, has added a vegetarian burger to its menu. Earlier in January 2017, the company debuted its VegeFi burger, made mostly from quinoa and lentils. Beyond Meat, however, hopes to make products that rival beef patties instead of other veggie burgers. At the NYC launch party for the Beyond Burger, Brown also announced that the company is also trying to create a plant-based bacon that’s indistinguishable from pork. “I have a pet pig, so I have a personal stake in this,” he said.